The

16. Their fruits—conduct. teachers themselves commonly show the effects of their faith in their conduct. This is natural, as that trees should yield their own fruit and not another kind. Yet in so judging, we are to "beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, which is hypocrisy." The pure word of God circulated in the scriptures, will serve to confound error of every kind.

17, 18. Even so. It is so in vegetable nature. You can tell a tree from the fruit it bears, and so you can tell a teacher from the fruit his doctrines yield; and so you can tell every good man from his habitual good actions. As a corrupt tree of bad nature and quality brings forth an evil kind of fruit, so a bad doctrine brings forth bad results. Error cannot save men. So the natural, unrenewed heart must show itself somehow in the life. It is not possible in the nature of things that it should be otherwise. "The carnal mind is enmity against God, and is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Augustine says, on this subject, "I praise the fruit of a good work, but in faith I acknowledge the root." The degenerate tree is not capable of restoring itself by its own unaided power. The law of human living is as the law of fruit-bearing trees, that according to .heir kind, so they must produce. Isolated acts of men may seem every way righteous, while they are not

Christian. The question cannot be upon detached doings. But was the man righteous? Was the tree good? Leaves may deceive often from a close resemblance. But what is the stalk and the root? Has there been a positive engrafting into Christ?

19. Hewn down. So in Matt. 3. 10. Repentance and regeneration are necessary, because the heart is naturally evil, and there must be a radical change. "And now the axe is laid unto the root of the trees." The wild and bitter stock that was removed from Eden, can only be restored by being grafted anew upon one of that stock from which it originally fell, and by this re-engrafting becoming partaker of the better life. Trench.

21. Not every one. Christ, as the great searcher of the heart, will distinguish. Not all shall enter into life who profess Christ, however repeatedly and loudly and familiarly saying, Lord, Lord, as though they were His followers. He demands a profession of His name, but those who have only this, He will exclude and reject. Those who enter, must do the will of God, must be His obedient and faithful disciples. workers of iniquity are unfit for heaven, because that is a place of perfect obedience to His will, and true Christians pray daily that they may do His will on earth as it is done in heaven. Those who do not sincerely aim to do and submit to His will in all things, do not belong to Christ. (" He that doeth the will of God, the same is my brother," &c.)

The

25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not; for it was founded upon a rock.2

V

22. In that day. The day of final and general judgment, see Luke 13. 25. Though they may have done all these things that seem so religious, yet they have an evil heart of unbelief, in "departing from the living God." It is not merely what we have done, but what we have been that shall be required.

23. Profess-openly declare. TI never knew you: never approved or recognized you as my followers. This is the sense of the word in many passages. Ps. 1. 6, &c. 1 Cor. 8. 3.¶ Depart from me. Unbelief departs from the living God-refuses to follow, obey, and love Christ. And so unbelievers must forever depart must go down to their destruction from the presence of God, and from the glory of His power-outcast" into outer darkness."

24-27. Christ closes this sermon on the Mount by an impressive and forcible comparison. He was the great Teacher of unadulterated truth, and they should carefully distinguish His teachings from those of false prophets, who should plausibly come o them, ready to deceive and devour.

26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish a man, which built his house upon the sand :

b

27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell and great was the fall of it.

:

с

28 ¶And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings,

z Ps.92.13-15. a 1Sa.2.30. Je.8.9. b 1Co.3.13. c He.10.26,27.

To hear these doctrines of His, which he had just taught, and to obey them, is the only true wisdom. We are building for eternity-and how foolish is that man who builds his house upon the sand. He has no foundation. Every Jew could understand the simile. In that country they were liable to sudden and heavy rains, which would swell the Jordan, and its overflow, rapid and powerful, would sweep away every tenement situated on its banks. -T Rains, winds and floods, make it wise to build on a good foundation, to "lay up in store a good foundation against the time to come." We are all liable to afflictions, sudden fears, and death: and the man whose hopes are at loose ends, and on a sandy foundation, must expect his house to fall. This is the case of unconverted sinners. Their destruction shall come as a mighty whirlwind (Prov. 1. 27), and it shall be great because it is the soul's eternal loss. None are safe whose hopes are not built on Christ, the Rock of Ages. Some have a secret hope, but cannot give a reason of it, They should look well to its grounds.

the people were astonished at his doctrine:

29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

d Je. 23.29. Mar.6.2.

28. His doctrine. His sayings or teachings.

29. Having authority. As having the right to say what is truth. Not like the Scribes, telling what the Jewish Rabbins or doctors taught. The Scribes were the Jewish lawyers, as the term indicates, who had to do with the Scriptures-to copy and preserve them. But Christ's teaching was like that of a master who owned none higher than Himself, and who, in all His words and actions, plainly showed His inherent authority to speak, both as lawgiver and interpreter. The ruin of those is great who, under the teaching of the Gospel, refuse to hear and obey.

OBSERVE: Three principles are laid down in the Sermon on the Mount: (1.) True happiness is not where the world would place it. ch. 5. 1–17. (2.) The Gospel establishes the Law. ch. 5. 17, to ch. 6.

(3.) A mere outward religion is vain. ch. 6 to ch. 8.

[§ 33. THE HEALING OF A LEPER.]

Matt. 8.2-4

Galilee.

It would seem, from comparing the narratives, that this case of a leper is briefly introduced here by the way, without regard to the time and order of events. It is probably the same as Mark and Luke record, which seems to have belonged to our Lord's tour in Galilee, previously to this, but is mentioned here by Matthew briefly, in passing. St. Ambrose has called this chapter, a chapter of miracles. Observe, they were wrought at very different times, but Matthew collects them here into one narrative.

2. A leper. Luke has it, "a man full of leprosy." The leprosy was a distemper of the most loathsome kind,

and broke out on the skin ultimately, sometimes after being for years in the system. It came out in blotches, mostly circular, like a ring-worm. It formed at length into scales, and sometimes covered the body with a dry and white scurf. It has its name from a Greek word lepis, signifying a scale. There were the strictest laws for keeping separate from it—as the garments, Levit. 13. 47, and houses, Levit. 14. 34-and in its worst forms it was deemed incurable by human means. The symptoms of the disease, and the Mosaic laws respecting it, are found Levit. 13. and 14. It was a striking emblem of the malady of sin. It was sometimes inflicted by God as a special and signal judgment. Numbers 12. 1-10 (Miriam). 2 Kings 5. 27 (Gehazi). 2 Chron. 26. 16–21. The disease as known at the present day, commences by an eruption of small reddish spots grouped together in a circle. Presently a thin whitish scale forms, glossy like isingglass, and falls off. The circles spread out to a larger size. They are commonly as large as a shilling, or larger, but increase sometimes till they are broad as the palm of the hand. The disease of leprosy was the greatest ceremonial uncleanness under the Mosaic law. There was no final excommunication but for leprosy. He that was leprous all over was pronounced clean, because all the poison had come out. If he had yet any live flesh that showed not leprous, he was unclean. The priests could not be tainted with it, for they were judges of it. From the strict regulations for keeping aloof from leprosy, it has generally been thought to have been contagious. But this is disproved from abundant facts the exclusion being wholly regulated by the Mosaic law, and not observed

5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there there came

b c.9.30. Mar.5.43. c Le.14.3, &c.

His public manifestation as the Messiah. We are taught to signify our gratitude by careful obedience, rather than blind and headlong zeal. The man was to go and report himself at Jerusalem, according to the command, even before he should report the matter to others. Some have a religion which obeys natural impulses rather than Divine commands. Some people hope they are religious without attending to the appointed ordinances of God's house. Some think it of little account to join the church. But God has appointed His ordinance as a public testimony most important to be made at once. Mark tells us how Christ's work was hindered by this leper's disobeying His commands. How many hinder His work by neglecting the public ordinances. For a testimony unto them priests and people. The priest was to examine the case and publicly attest the benefit received from God, so that the miracle might be properly certified and circulated, and the man be restored again to society. The Jewish Rabbins allowed that curing lepers should be a characteristic of the Messiah. And the testimony therefore was to reach both priest and people for their conviction of Christ's claims. When a man is converted from the power of Satan unto God, it should be made public in the appointed way, for the sake of others. This testifies against them. 42. THE HEALING OF THE CENTURION'S SERVANT.-Capernaum.

Matt. 8. 5-13

John.

5, 6. And when Jesus had entered into Capernaum. The Evangelist here

6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. 7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. 8 The centurion answered and d Lu.7.2,&c.

takes up the narrative. This was the first event after coming down from the mount near Capernaum. Luke records it also.--TA Centurion. This was a military officer among the Romans. As the name imports (the Latin centum meaning a hundred), it was the command of a hundred men. A Roman military force was stationed in Judea because it was now a province of the Roman Empire. It is not a man's occupation but his faith that gives him standing before God.- ¶ Beseeching. We must come as suppliants, needy and anxious.- -T Lord. The word here would seem to mean sir, as used by a Roman. ¶ My servant. The Centurion shows great regard for his servant, being evidently anxious about the case, and taking the same steps, which he would naturally have done for a child. Good masters will pray for their servants, and strive to do their souls good. We ought to beseech Christ for others, especially for our own house.¶ Lieth at home. The word intimates the severity of the disease and the infirmity consequent upon this reduced state. ——¶ Sick of the palsy. See note, ch. 4. 24.

7. I will come-literally, I am coming, and will heal him. It falls in with God's eternal purpose, to hear prayer and to grant salvation. So it proved. What free grace! What full offices! Christ had only to sig nify His willingness and this would Secure the result. He could even heal him on the way to the house, as He really did. This prompt reply of Christ to the request of this stranger, who was probably born a pagan, and not a Jew, showed His gracious rea